Bitcoin’s worth as a payment network, store of value, and leader of the emerging digital assets class can directly be related to the accelerated growth of Coinbase, especially now with the exciting news of its upcoming and highly anticipated public listing.

According to MicroStrategy’s CEO Michael Saylor, there is a reason why Coinbase is currently gaining around 1 million new users and nearly $10 billion in digital assets every week.   

“This direct listing is going to be a wake-up call for institutional investors, financial advisers & investment banks worldwide. #Bitcoin Rises.”

Saylor made the remarks in response to an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box with emerging financial markets expert, Amy Butte. Butte said that Bitcoin’s technology combined with Coinbase public listing news represents a real innovation in financial services. She further stated that the innovation is evident especially in the last three months which have seen a serious influx of investments from financial institutions.

“Institutions even in the last 3-4 months have really come in and corporates have come in and said hey, I need to have crypto as part of my treasury.”

Coinbase’s Public Listing Goes Live Soon

Coinbase goes live on April 14, almost 4 months after officially announcing its intentions in December 2020. At the time, the popular US crypto exchange was valued at roughly $25 billion with a total trading volume of around $320 billion.

However, by mid-march 2021, the coinbase valuation was estimated to be approximately $68 billion. This valuation is based on the average quarterly share price that coinbase cited on its revised filing to the US SEC.

The latest valuation now estimates that Coinbase is conservatively worth anything between $19 billion to $230 billion which indicates that despite the excitement, institutions are still factoring in the volatility risk associated with the cryptocurrency industry.

Coinbase Expects More Institutional Investment In 2021

Coinbase recently announced its first-quarter 2021 result and its outlook for 2021.  The exchange reported that it verified 56 million users, had 6.1 monthly active users and carried 11.3% of the total crypto-assets market share of $223 billion with approximately $122 billion of the total assets coming from institutional investors. 

The total trading volume was $335 billion, total revenue $1.8 billion, net income between $730 and $800 million, and an adjusted EBITDA of around $1.1 billion.

“We expect meaningful growth in 2021 driven by transaction and custody revenue given the increased institutional interest in the crypto assets class.”